Manually drivable apparatus for comminuting foods

ABSTRACT

A manually drivable apparatus for comminuting foods. The apparatus includes a substantially rotationally symmetrical vessel configured to receive a material to be cut, a substantially rotationally symmetrical removable cover configured to nonrotatably mount on the vessel, a shaft rotatably mounted centrally along an axis of the vessel, and at least one blade mounted to the shaft and projecting approximately at right angles from the shaft. The apparatus includes a cutting edge provided on the at least one blade on each of a first longitudinal edge and a second longitudinal edge opposite the first longitudinal edge. The apparatus includes a rotatable drive part configured to drive at least the shaft, and includes a gear arranged in the cover and configured to operatively connect the rotatable drive part to the shaft with a transmission ratio that is greater than 1.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a manually drivable apparatus for comminutingfoods, in particular vegetables.

PRIOR ART

In an Applicant's apparatus of the generic type which is marketed as‘der Häxler’, the drive part is in the form of a crank mounted centrallyin the cover. The shaft has two blades which project at right angles inopposite directions and which in each case are provided with a cuttingedge only at the front edge, so that the crank always has to be turnedclockwise. Both are arranged relatively closely above the base, althoughstaggered relative to one another in the direction of the shaft.Although the apparatus has generally proved its worth, it is possiblefor cut solid material, e.g. onions, to be carried by the blades owingto the constant direction of rotation. This can be counteracted to someextent only by a relatively high speed of the blades, which however,particularly when cutting onions, can easily lead to a satisfactorydegree of homogeneity being reached only with a high degree ofcomminution. The apparatus can be used conveniently only if it issupported on a level work surface, which entails a relatively largespace requirement during use.

DE-A-39 14 372 discloses an electrically driven vegetable cutter ofotherwise similar design, in which the shaft likewise has two bladeswhich project at right angles in opposite directions and are staggeredrelative to one another in the direction of the shaft. In order toensure that the carrying of the cut material, which also occurs here,does not have a disadvantageous effect, a counter-knife which isstationary or rotatable only to a limited extent is arranged in thevessel, between said blades. The blades are provided with cutting edgeson both longitudinal edges, but this only has the purpose of making itpossible to dispense with a startup lock for the electric motor.Controlled reversal of the direction of rotation of the shaft is notenvisaged.

Another generic type of apparatuses for comminuting foods, as used inparticular for comminuting onions, is evident from EP-A-1 232 840. Thisapparatus has a knife with a cutting edge which is curved in aserpentine manner on the underside and is mounted at the lower end of aram which carries an actuating button at its upper end. By impacts onthe latter, the knife is caused repeatedly to strike a firm substrate onwhich the material to be cut lies, against the restoring force of a coilspring. These apparatuses are relatively inconvenient to operate, andmoreover pieces of the material to be cut can easily become jammed inthe knife, which prevents further comminution of said pieces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to provide an apparatus of the generictype which ensures high uniformity of the cut material even with amoderate degree of comminution, in particular when cutting onions.Moreover, it should be convenient to operate.

This object is achieved by the features in the characterizing clause ofclaim 1. The apparatus according to the invention can be held in thehands during use and the shaft which carries the blades can be caused toexecute alternately opposite rotational movements by movement of thedrive part back and forth relative to the other parts of the apparatus.The spatial position of the apparatus may vary, it generally beingtilted by about 90°. In any case, the apparatus is usually not supportedduring use and therefore requires no free space on a work surface.

In particular, however, it has been found that the material to be cut,in particular onions, is very rapidly and uniformly comminuted. Afurther advantage of the apparatus is that it is equally convenient tooperate for right-handed persons and left-handed persons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference tofigures which show only an embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of the apparatus according to theinvention,

FIG. 2 shows an axial longitudinal section through the apparatusaccording to the invention of FIG. 1 and

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section along III—III in FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The substantially rotationally symmetrical apparatus has a round cover 1which comprises a base 2 and a cap 3 as drive part, between which a gear4 is arranged. The cap 3 has a plurality of indentations distributed atregular intervals over its edge. A beaker- or dish-like vessel 5 oftransparent material can be connected to the underside of the base 2 insuch a way that a toothed system on the outer edge of the underside ofthe base 2 engages a complementary tooth system on the inside of theupper edge of the vessel 5 so that the two parts are nonrotatablyconnected.

Located along the axis of the vessel 5 is a hollow shaft 6 which has anoperative connection through the base 2 to the gear 4 on which the cap 3acts on the other side so that rotations thereof relative to the base 2are converted into rotations of the shaft 6. The latter carries twoapproximately rectangular blades 7 a, 7 b which project approximately atright angles on opposite sides and are oriented perpendicular to theaxis and extend up to close to the wall of the vessel 5. The blades 7a,b are staggered relative to one another in the direction of the axisin such a way that the axial distance from the lower blade 7 a to thebase approximately corresponds to the axial distance from the upperblade 7 b to the edge of the vessel 5, while the distance between thetwo blades 7 a, 7 b is slightly larger. Each of the blades 7 a,b has acutting edge 8 in each case on two parallel longitudinal edges.

The gear 4 comprises a plurality of gear wheels lying in a plane andmounted so as to be rotatable in the cover. A central wheel 9 located inthe centre of the cover 1 has a central orifice which is nonrotatablyengaged by a sleeve 10 which projects through a central orifice 11 inthe base 2 into the interior of the vessel 5. There, it carries at itslower end a peg 12 which has a hexagonal cross-section and engages acorresponding recess in the upper end of the shaft 6 so that the sleeve10 and, via this, the central wheel 9 are nonrotatably connected to theshaft 6. At the lower end, the shaft 6 is mounted on the base of thevessel 5 by virtue of the fact that a bearing journal 12 formed thereprojects into it. At its upper end, where it widens in a dish-likemanner and surrounds the lower part of the sleeve 10, it extends up tothe base 2 so that penetration of cut material between the sleeve 10 andthe shaft 6 is not possible.

The sleeve 10 is mounted on a hollow axle journal 14 which projectsdownwards from the centre of the cap 3 and engages an orifice in thesleeve 10, which orifice is concentric with the central wheel 9. It hasa plurality of fingers 16 which are separated by slots 15 and carry attheir ends hooks 17 which grip behind an all-round ledge 18 in theinterior of the sleeve 10 and thus limit its axial displaceability in adownward direction. The latter is at the same time limited in an upwarddirection by a stop ring 19 on the cap 3, which stop ring surrounds theaxle journal 14 at a distance, so that the sleeve 10 has only slightaxial play.

The central wheel 9 is surrounded concentrically by three identicalintermediate wheels 20 a,b,c which engage it at points uniformlydistributed over its circumference. They are mounted similarly to thesleeve 10 on axle journals 14 which in this case project upwards fromthe base 2 but are otherwise formed correspondingly and engageconcentric orifices, and once again are limited in their axialdisplaceability by hooks 17 and stop rings 19 surrounding the axlejournals 14 at a distance, so that they too have only slight axial play.

The cap 3 carries, on the inside of a skirt 21 running around its edgeand projecting downwards, a gear ring 22 which engages the intermediatewheels 20 a,b,c from the outside. A rotation of the cap 3 relative tothe base 2 therefore results, via the gear ring 22, in identicalrotational movements of the intermediate wheels 20 a,b,c, which in turncause the central wheel 9 to rotate, which rotation is transmitted viathe sleeve 10 to the shaft 6. The transmission ratio is preferably from1:3 to 1:5. In the apparatus shown here, it is 1:4.

The blades 7 a,b are produced from stainless strip steel, their surfaceis electrolytically polished and the cutting edges 8 are sharpenedburr-free. All other parts of the apparatus consist of plastic,preferably the cap 3 of ABS, the vessel 5 of SAN and the other parts ofPOM. They are produced by the injection moulding process.

The dimensions of the apparatus correspond to its intended use as amanually operated apparatus. The diameter is about 108 mm and the heightabout 75 mm. The length of the blades 7 a,b is 52 mm. Of course,deviations from these values are possible. Diameters of from 80 mm to120 mm and heights of from 60 mm to 120 mm are readily possible withoutthe handling and operating properties of the apparatus beingsubstantially impaired. In the case of a greater height of the vessel,it may be necessary to provide more than two blades axially staggeredrelative to one another.

The material to be cut—e.g. an onion cut beforehand into quarters—isintroduced into the vessel 5, and the cover 1 is then mounted. Thevessel 5 is then gripped, for example with the left hand, and the cap 3with the right hand, its indentations improving its grip, and theapparatus is tilted by about 90° so that its axis is approximatelyhorizontal. The vessel 5 and the base 2 of the cover 1 which isnonrotatably connected to it, on the one hand, and the cap 3, on theother hand, are rotated relative to one another, for example 10 times inalternately opposite directions of rotation, each time by about one fullrevolution. After about 20 to 30 seconds or 40 to 60 revolutions, whichcorresponds to 160 to 240 revolutions of the shaft 6 relative to theshaft 5, the onion has been comminuted. The vessel 5 can then be removedand emptied.

Owing to the regular reversal of the direction of rotation, there isvirtually no carrying of the cut material by the blades. The generallytilted position of the apparatus during the use thereof leads to abetter distribution of the cut material in the vessel 5 and to moreuniform processing thereof by the blades 7 a,b.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

-   1 Cover-   2 Base-   3 Cap-   4 Gear-   5 Vessel-   6 Shaft-   7 a,b Blades-   8 Cutting edges-   9 Central wheel-   10 Sleeve-   11 Orifice-   12 Peg-   13 Bearing journal-   14 Axle journal-   15 Slot-   16 Finger-   17 Hook-   18 Ledge-   19 Stop ring-   20 a,b,c Intermediate wheels-   21 Skirt-   22 Gear ring

1. A manually drivable apparatus for comminuting foods, comprising asubstantially rotationally symmetrical vessel configured to receive amaterial to be cut; a substantially rotationally symmetrical removablecover configured to nonrotatably mount on the vessel having, a baseconfigured to nonrotatably mount on the vessel and having a peripheralrim, and a rotatable cap covering the base, the cap being rotatableabout a central axis of the vessel and having an outer circumference ofa size substantially equal to the peripheral rim of the base or theoutside circumference of the vessel; a shaft rotatably mounted along thecentral axis of the vessel; at least one blade mounted to the shaft andprojecting approximately at a right angle from the shaft; a cutting edgeprovided on said at least one blade on each of a first longitudinal edgeand a second longitudinal edge opposite the first longitudinal edge, arotatable drive part connected to the rotatable cap and configured todrive at least the shaft; and a gear arranged in the cover andconfigured to operatively connect the rotatable drive part to the shaftwith a transmission ratio that is greater than
 1. 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the transmission ratio of the gear ranges is between3:1 to 5:1.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the gear comprisesgear wheels including a central wheel connected concentrically andnonrotatably to the shaft and at least one intermediate wheel; said atleast one intermediate wheel engaging the central wheel; the centralwheel rotatably mounted to the cover; and the drive part comprises agear ring that is concentric with the central wheel and that engages theat least one intermediate wheel.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, whereinthe gear wheels comprise a plurality of identical intermediate wheelsthat concentrically surround the central wheel.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 4, wherein the plurality of intermediate wheels comprises three ofsaid gear wheels.
 6. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:hollow axle journals included in the removable cover and having aplurality of fingers and axial slots, said journals divided into theplurality of fingers by the axial slots, wherein the gear wheels areeach mounted on the hollow axle journals of the cover, and said journalsengage orifices concentric with the gear wheels.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 6, further comprising: projecting hooks at the ends of thefingers, wherein an axial displaceability of the gear wheels is limitedin each case on one side by the projecting hooks.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 3, further comprising: a peg connected to the central wheelthrough a central orifice on that side of the cover which faces thevessel, wherein the shaft is configured to removably and nonrotatablyengage the peg.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shaft isconfigured to engage with the bottom of the vessel.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one blade comprises: two blades mounted onopposite sides of the shaft and staggered relative to one another in thelongitudinal direction.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the atleast one blade comprises: a first blade and a second blade, said firstblade being approximately the same distance away from an upper edge ofthe vessel as the second blade is from a base of the vessel.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a first tooth system on anedge of the vessel, wherein the cover comprises second tooth system thatis configured to engage the first tooth system.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the cap comprises, on an edge of the cap, a pluralityof indentations distributed over a circumference of the cap forimproving a grip to the cap.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thevessel comprises a transparent material.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein at least one of the vessel, the cover, the shaft, the drivepart, and the gear comprises a plastic part.
 16. The apparatus of claim15, further comprising: a non-plastic blade.
 17. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the vessel has a diameter from 80 mm to 120 mm.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the vessel has a height from 60 mm to 120mm.